We also have a good fiber network, 9,000 miles in NE PA. The issue is that the tape libraries are fiber channel, which is very limited for distance. The network folks were reviewing the options, long distance fiber channel transmitters or convert fiber channel to Ethernet, both solutions were pricey, project went on hold. We have a colo that was close, but from a DR respective, too close.
I was going replace my current LTO 5 with a LTO 6 library, move the LTO5 to a new site tbd. Or pursue a DEDUP device. I'm not comfortable with DEDUP device, not sure it will be able to achieve everything we do with tape. We restore a copy of production weekly to any of 6 copies on R&D.

We have a pretty good network structure. For example we have Mimix running between two cities and that has good bandwidth. Only 17 miles and a lot of new fiber we're piggybacking on.
I forget the exact product name (I was just told to fill out the sizing worksheets). Some sort of VTL. One here, one there, one in the cloud.

Next step, customize the BRMS recovery report
Researching the new DEDUP devices or a 2nd off site tape library.
If implemented, no tape handling at all, all volumes would remain in both
libraries.
This would be sweet.

The many lpars to one volume may make sense if:
- You are not doing any SAVSYS
- You have a large enough window of save.

For example, with a fiber option SAN switch and each lpar having their own
connection to it and multiple tape drives in our tape library we can back
up multiple lpars at once. Limited mainly by the number of tape drives in
the library. Saving many lpars to one tape volume would require some
coordination.
But I could see where only sending one tape to Iron Mountain instead of
five every day would significantly reduce the number of tape volumes
required. Instead of
14 levels of retention by 5 daily tapes,
6 levels of retention by 5 weekly saves
We could cut that down by perhaps 1/5th.

I agree, keep it simple stupid.
If I could simplify, I would.
The point I was trying to make is you can still have all volumes in one
pool, yet BRMS can keep saves separate, if needed.
BRMS is scary when you first see it, I didn't know where to start.
It would nice if you could save to the same volume from various LPARS, but
that will never happen.
Also, DUPMEDBRM needs a major overhaul from a performance standpoint.
Finally, BRMS recoveries still scare me, I'm still testing, when I have
time.
A restore 21 was always so much simpler and easier.

I don't understand your setup. But it's not important that I do.
I don't think the average BRMS shop needs to be nearly as complex.
Maybe yours does.
Hey, if it works for you.
I just don't want to scare other BRMS users.

Sorry I couldn't explain it better. But it actually works all
automatically once setup.
The setup was a little intense, but the automation was worth it.
Here's the all move/media policies that make it all work.
Basically a separate policy for each save and dup.

We do very limited append. We have maybe two tapes total that are
'permanent'. These are year end saves of two archive libraries. We did
have to put them into their own pool. (Hey, you're starting to sink
in...) Putting them into their own 'media class' was really the only way
to ensure that it appended on to the right tape. SAVLIBBRM doesn't allow
you to specify a volume id.

We do not dup any saves. I can see the advantage of that. Send a copy
offsite and keep a copy on site. Therefore you don't have the delay of
getting the tape back when doing a restore. That's one reason why many
people are going to virtual tape libraries. Actually we do dupe that year
end archive. But that's not for local/remote. That's because it's the
only copy and we don't want the risk of one tape going bad.

We don't want perm saves mixed with saves that expire, etc.
Still using all one scratch pool, when a volume becomes active the
media/move policy for that save/control group is assigned to that volume,
then only the same save will be appended to that volume.
Prior to doing this, when our saves expired, we ended up with many volumes
with only a few items on them, so the volume would never expire.
That's our reasoning.

I was happy to see your comments about pulling tapes from one big pool.

I need to set up BRMS here as well. I wanted to have one tape pool across
two lpars and different types of save. I was told by a BP that I needed to
allocate tapes to specific save pools (for want of a better word). i.e.
These tapes are for Monday's development save, these are Monday's
production and so on.

I'm glad I can go back to my original 'vision'.

Gord

On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 10:54 AM, <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

We also have different retention policies. Monday is kept for 'weeks'.
Other days for 'days'. Quarterly for a year.
We don't care if BR0204 expires off of a daily save and gets used in a
Monday or Quarterly save. Makes no difference to us. WRKMEDBRM will

show

us when the tape was used and when it will expire. WRKOBJBRM will show

Sorry for the confusion, currently only 6 scratch volumes, but normally
about 14.
Currently redoing a 10 year, 4 volume dup.
Our library has 45 slots, 1 reserved for cleaning, 3 I/O slots.
Currently 34 active volumes, probably about 10 different saves/control
groups.
We keep the this many active volumes in the library, most restores don't
require a media load, already in the library.
We run saves every day also, some saves have different retentions, so

the

combination of move/media policy will save/append to the correct volume.
We load / unload M-F.
I want to keep them balanced.
It's not really tricky the system, but keeping like saves on the same
volumes.

Only 6 volumes total? How many does your library hold?
Our library holds over 50 volumes. We load up a weeks worth at a time.
Actually 6 'run' days. We back up 5 days a week. The advantage to this
is it will still back up when the office is closed due to holidays or

snow

emergencies. Our library also has 18 I/O slots but don't let the number
of I/O slots limit you. We only run the *BALANCE once a week. Yes, we
remove the daily tapes every day but we only load new tapes once a week.

If you really are truly limited to 6 volumes, and you want two for one

and

4 for the other, then you should run the *SETs separately. One for 2

and

one for 4. But if your library holds a weeks worth then do a *SET for

(5

* 2) for the one and (5 * 4) for the other. Replace 5 by the number of
days of the week you back up.

You're not still trying to trick the system to use certain volumes on
certain days of the week, are you?

For example, if we have one tape library used in our Garrett IN office,
and that feeds multiple lpars, we may run the STRBALBRM on one of the
lpars there. And run a different STRBALBRM, once, on one of other lpars
in our Kendallville IN office for all of the lpars there.

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